1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of lock structures, and more specifically, to a lock structure which is activated by an associated rod key.
2. Prior Art
It is well known in the art that common door locks are designed such that one key can open and close a specific door. It is also well known in the art that a common key lock system is available in which one key can lock and unlock a plurality of different doors. In such a system, there are multiple cylinders in the lock structure, but activation of specific cylinders by a single key causes the door lock to be movable from the locked position to the unlocked position. In apartments and the like, this lock has the advantage of permitting each resident to use a single key for both the cylinder on the communal front door used by more than one household as well as the lock on his own individual apartment. This has become widely used because it frees one of the burden of carrying many keys for entry into various locations when in reality, such locations are to be used by a number of different people.
Because it is necessary to put multiple capabilities on this type of key, the rod key, which has a large capacity for key numbers, is ideal since under normal conditions the rod key can form a key type of either the axial or circumferential direction. Thus, a rod-type key, even though a small key, can accommodate a great many key configurations adding to the ability of the key to be difficult to copy but permitting such key to open more than one door. In the case of a common key form, the key type is formed by angular deviations in the key in one direction and corresponding deviations in the key lock mechanism. In a rod key, the pins in the cylinder of the locking mechanism are positioned every 90.degree. at usually four locations in the circumferential direction and the key type of the rod key takes its form correspondingly. Thus, because the traditional multiple cylinder corresponding to this key type has the same key configuration (for example, four places on the vertical and horizontal directions), when a key is inserted into each cylinder, the key way in each cylinder is different, and each time the key is inserted it is necessary to change the angular direction which in practice has proved to be a significant disadvantage and thus undesirable.